The technology described herein relates to angled impingement openings for reducing or mitigating particulate accumulation. More specifically, present embodiments relate to, without limitation, an array of openings disposed at an angle to a surface to provide angled flow and reduce particulate accumulation on part surfaces and improve cooling effectiveness.
Most operating environments of a gas turbine engine receive particulate material into the engine. Such particulate can have various detrimental effects in the engine.
The accumulation of dust, dirt or other particulate matter in gas turbine engines or turbo-machinery reduces the efficiency of the machinery, as well as reducing the effectiveness of the cooling which occurs within the engine. The particulate may insulate components of the engine which lead to the increasing component temperature therein. Particulate can also block or plug apertures utilized for cooling components within the engine which further leads to decreased functionality or effectiveness of the cooling circuits within the engine components or hardware.
Accumulation of particulate is in part due to stagnation and/or recirculation of air flow within cooling circuits. Prior efforts to resolve particulate accumulation problems have included additional flow through the engine components so as to increase surface cooling. This has deemphasized internal cooling feature effectiveness but utilizes more compressed air which would alternatively be directed into the core for improving performance and output of the gas turbine engine.
It would be desirable to reduce or eliminate the factors leading to the increased temperature or decreased cooling effectiveness of the engine components. It would further be desirable to decrease the amount of particulate accumulation and decrease stagnation or low momentum of air flow so that particulate does not accumulate in the aircraft engine.